Victim: The kids, not the dog, are the problem

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SEATAC, Wash. -- When Inga saw a group of kids beating a pit bull, she pulled over.

"The four of them had the dog on a short leash and they were kicking it," said the 63-year-old woman who only wished to be identified by her first name.

When Inga asked the kids what was going on, she was met with hostility.

"Grabbed me by the hair and started yanking me out of the car and beating me over the head with her fist," she said of one of the teens. A boy, meanwhile, yanked the dog into the scuffle, Inga said.

"He started kicking the dog and kicking the dog. And that's when the dog bit me," she said.

Inga was bitten in the hand and thigh.

When the kids heard police approaching, they ran. But another woman who saw the attack followed the group to SeaTac Park.

Inga saw the 41-year-old woman a short time later, and that woman was covered in blood.

"And I said, 'What happened?' And she said, 'They broke my nose. That girl beat me up, and they sicced the dog on me,''' said Inga.

Sgt. John Urquhart said when the teens realized they were being followed, a 15-year-old girl walked up to the woman, head-butted her, and then started punching her.

Deputies said the dog joined in the fray, egged on by the teens, and became increasingly violent. It attacked the woman, biting her in the head, face and both arms. Her left arm was wounded so deeply that her bone was exposed.

Inga has bite marks on her legs. The other woman is still in the hospital, recovering.

But the dog's owner tells a different tale. Cynthia Davis claims the animal was protecting, not attacking.

"I know for a fact (that) my dog, Snaps, was defending my daughter," Davis said. "One woman got in a confrontation with my daughter. And then the other woman came in."

Davis said the kids did not command the dog to attack the woman.

"I've talked to my daughter. She says that's not the case," she said.

The pit bull has been placed under quarantine, and is scheduled to be put down next week.

"Clearly the dog was being trained to attack," Urquhart said. "And that's what the dog was doing."

But as far as Inga is concerned, the dog is not to blame.

"That dog is not a mean dog. It's the children that are mean," she said.

Prosecutors plan to file felony assault charges against the oldest teen, a 15-year-old girl. The others - a 13-year-old boy, a 12-year-old boy and 11-year-old boy - have been released to their parents, but could face charges as well.

"Basically they were using this dog as a weapon," Urquhart said. "It's no different than a knife, gun or steel pipe."